Legendary Iron: Warren Lincoln Travis' Globe Barbell

Legendary Iron: Warren Lincoln Travis' Globe Barbell

Speaking of challenge weights, here's one you don't see every day. This globe barbell once belonged to the great strongman Warren Lincoln Travis. The botton inset is the man himself lifting this very barbell from some old newsreel footage. Notice the star collars and canister around the handle is now missing -- probably sold off for scrap years ago.

I got to lift that barbell at Slim the Hammer Man's place last summer. There were plenty of strong guys there although I was the only one who managed to lift it with one hand. The thick handle makes for quite a challenge.

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Yet Another Look at Sig Klein's Gym

Sig Klein's Gym

Yes, we have shown it before but Sig Klein's gym never goes out of style.

Here's another shot clearly showing the rich, oak panneling, great collection of oldtime globe barbells and antique weights and the Persian rug on the floor (better take your shoes off before you train at Sig's place!)

This shot was taken before Sig had a shelf built around the perimeter of the gym for his world-famous beer stein collection.

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Kurt Saxon

Kurt Saxon

of the Saxon trio, it was often Arthur who got most of the spotlight, but the other brothers were also quite strong. Here's a shot of Kurt Saxon, at 50 years old, supporting nearly half a ton of classic barbells and other weights.

The largest Barbell weighs 330 pounds and the kettlebells on his feet weight 88 pounds apeice, the barbell on his abdomen weighs 200 pounds, the barbell he is holding weighs 100 pounds and another 88-pound kettlebell on each hand.

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Rolandow Jumping The Barbell

Rolandow Jumping The Barbell
One of the signature feats of the great strongman G.W. Rolandow was jumping back and forth over a loaded barbell. This barbell was loaded to 130 lbs. but his record was over 200 lbs. Note that he is only able to hold the barbell with three fingers while performing this stunt.

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The Young Apollo

The Young Apollo
The Young Apollo -- A.K.A. Paul Anderson (yes, really) from Australia performed many unusual feats during his colorful career. He was fond of the Human Link Feat, letting a car run over him and pulling railroad cars with his teeth.

Here's The Young Apollo supporting 540 Pounds in pretty much every imaginable way.

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George Jowett And The Bent Press

George Jowett And The Bent Press

The great oldtime strongman and strength author George Jowett as he prepares to bent press a heavy globe barbell. Jowett was a master of many different strength feats, most notably, lifting a 168-pound anvil by the horn and other feats of grip strength Jowett's best bent press performance was 304-1/2 pounds. Note the great Milo Kettlebells in the background.

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George Zottman's Oldtime Strongman Equipment

George Zottman Globe Barbells
A rare picture of a young George Zottman with some of his great oldtime stage equipment. Grip strength is a premium for any oldtime strongman. Gotta love those thick-handled globe barbells and dumbbells. You can tell a lot of great workouts happened with those.

The globe dumbbell in the foreground weighs 175 pounds -- and the dog's name was Sphinx.

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Sig Klein's Neck Bridge Feat

The era of Strongmanism, several generations ago, used to feature many strongman stunts that baffled and amazed the public. Here's a rare shot of one of the feats performed by Sig Klein and his stage partner Jack Bier. Here Sig holds a Neck Bridge while holding a globe barbell at arm's length as his partner stands on his chest. -- that's several hundred exta pounds supported by Sig Klein's neck alone. Having accomplished a similar feat, I can say this is NOT easy!

Sig Klein's Neck Bridge Feat

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Frank Leight - Mr. America 1942

Frank Leight - Mr. America 1942
Frank Leight, AAU Mr. America 1942, with some classic globe barbells and kettlebells on the cover of the July, 1942 issue of Strength and Health Magazine.

Frank Leight finished 2nd in 1940 (losing to John Grimek and 3rd in 1941 (again behind Grimek, and Jules Bacon)before finally winning the Mr. America contest himself in 1942.

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Another Look At Sig Klein's Gym

Another Look At Sig Klein's Gym
What a place to train! -- Here's another look at Sig Klein's Gym located in Times Square, downtown New York.

The thing that makes a gym truly great is the atmosphere -- and Sig's place had it. You can just tell that many great workouts took place here.

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Alan Calvert

Alan Calvert
A very rare picture of Milo Barbell Company founder and noted strength author Alan Calvert.

Calvert established the Milo Barbell company in 1902, one of the very first training publications "Strength" Magazine in 1914, wrote several training books and courses and helped pave the way for thousands of trainees to develop size and strength.

Gotta love those classic 'bells!

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1938 Mr. America Bert Goodrich With Strongman Stage Weights

1938 Mr. America Bert Goodrich With
Strongman Stage Weights
One of the great things about the history of strength training is that many of the early strength athletes had their own personal training equipment made up which lent quite a bit of character to their training.

Here is a very rare picture of 1938 Mr. America Bert Goodrich with some very interesting oldtime equipment, a globe barbell and kettlebell.

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Arthur Saxon's Leg Press Support Feat

Arthur Saxon's Leg Press Support Feat
Heavy supporting feats were very popular with the oldtime strongmen. They could often support incredibly heavy weighst which always impressed the audience.

Here's Arthur Saxon supporting nine men on his feet, and two more (the other members of the Saxon Trio, Kurt and Herman) on a globe barbell held at arms's length.

It's been said that a feat such as this where Arthur Saxon held several thousand pounds was his greates strength feat, even topping his 448-Pound Two-Hands-Anyhow record.

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Harry Shafran's Gym

Harry Shafran's Gym
Harry Shafran was an oldtime lifter who owned a couple successful gyms in New York back in the 1920's. Eventually he grew tired of big city lift and retired to a farm near Scranton, Pennsylvania where he converted the large barn in the back of his house into one of the greatest gyms of all time.

Here's a look back in time... Globe dumbbells, climbing ropes, Milo kettlebells, gymnastic rings, swedish bars -- note the double handled kettlebells used for swingbell exercises.

A half-moon bench can be seen in the foreground. This unique piece of equipment was used specifically for chest expansion exercises and used to be quite common.

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Edward Aston, Britain's Strongest Man

Edward Aston, Britain's Strongest Man
Edward Aston was The World's Middle-weight Weightlifting Champion, British Heavy-weight Champion Weightlifter, and Britain's Strongest Man from 1911-1934 (Retiring undefeated.)

Here Aston demostrates his unique version of the "clean pull" - note the position of the elbow. -- This simple adjustment in technique will allow you to "pull" up to 15% more weight!

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The Brothers Marx - Performing Strongmen

The Brothers Marx
John Grunn Marx and his brother Aloysius used to perform together as "The Brothers Marx" - American Gladiators, The Strongest Men Living.

(It was actually brother Al who taught John Grunn the strongman trade.)

As this oldtime strongman poster indicates, their act consisted of the lifting of large globe dumbbells, kettlebells and various supporting feats... And as also indicated on the poster, their apparati was available for inspection.

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Pullum's Challenge Barbell

W.A. Pullum was a great British Strongman who set scores of strength records during his competitive career. Like many Oldtime Strongmen, Pullum had his own strength challenge. Using the special thick-handled globe barbell shown here, a lifter had to do a "One Hand Anyhow" with a poundage equal to 1-1/2 times his own bodyweight and simultaneously lift a kettlebell loaded a third of the barbell poundage with the other hand. Pullum used to perform this "double-bodyweight" feat twelve times per week but in all his years, his "challenge" was never accepted.

Pullum's Challenge Barbell

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Sandow Lifts The Rolandow Barbell

Sandow Lifts The Rolandow Barbell
I've mentioned the Rolandow Barbell before. And as I also mentioned, it goes back a long way and that several famous strongmen have lifted it...

Here's a look at Eugen Sandow rocking the Rolandow Barbell back into position so that he can bent press it in 1902 or so.

The thick handle is, of course, a distinguishing mark of real "Oldtime" barbells and Rolandow lifted it many times.

Kind of amazing that a century later you can go to the York Barbell Company Museum (where the Rolandow Barbell Currently Resides) and touch the very same weight that so many great strongmen once lifted.

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Playing a Trick on Apollon

Apollon
One of the barbells that the great French Strongman Apollon used to lift during his performances had a 2-1/2 inch thick diameter handle and was made up of two hollow spheres which could be loaded with sand to adjust the weight.

This barbell weighed 143 pounds empty and filled with sand it tipped the scales at 198 pounds. Just before he was to perform, a rival strongman played a trick on Apollon and replaced the sand-filled spheres with solid iron ones which brought the weight of the barbell to 341 pounds.

During the performance, Apollon lifted the barbell with ease... Apollon's strength was so great that he did not even notice the difference!

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Globe Barbells at the 1924 Olympic Games

Globe Barbells at the 1924 Olympic Games
Here's a look at the Globe Barbells that were lined up and ready to be used at the 1924 Olympic Games held in Paris France.

This was the last year that lifters were given the choice between lifting with shot-loaded globe barbells or barbells loaded with the iron disc plates that we use today.

The only lifters to choose the shot-loaded globes at the 1924 Olympic Games were the French Weightlifting team, of which great strongman Charles Rigoulot won the gold medal in the heavyweight class and his teammate Edmond Decottignies took home the gold in the light-weight Class.

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Al Nino - Bag Punching Endurance Record

The speed bag is a fun workout tool and a great way to build upper-body endurance and coordination. During the early 1940's, Al Nino of Darby, Pennsylvania punched a speed bag at a rate of 128 punches per minute for 8 hours and 30 minutes without stopping. Al used barbell training to build his strength.

Al Nino

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Milo Steinborn's Orange Avenue Gym

Milo Steinborn's Orange Avenue Gym
Henry "Milo" Steinborn was a 5'8" 205 lb German wrestler and strongman who became the first man to ever squat 500 lbs. In fact, his world record squat of 553 lbs. (set during the 1920's) would not be officially bested until the early 1950's by Doug Hepburn.

It was Milo who popularized the heavy deep knee bend as one of the most productive training lifts for anyone interested in building real strength.

In 1952, Milo opened the Orange Avenue Gym down in Orlando, Florida, which makes it the oldest weightlifting gym in America. Along with plenty of weights and barbells, Milo's Gym had a wrestling ring and other physical training equipment.

It was here that Milo taught a young Jim Flanagan how to get strong.

I was fortunate enough to visit the Orange Avenue Gym on a trip back in 2003 -- it still had some of Milo's original training equipment.

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Charles Rigoulot's Unique Globe Barbell

Charles Rigoulot's Unique Globe Barbell
The great French Weightlifter Charles Rigoulot used to train with a very unusual globe barbell -- at 8 feet, it was much longer than a "normal" barbell (which gave it quite a bit of "whip"), not to mention that he was using shot-loaded equipment long after shot-loaded globes went out of style.

Given this setup, he was a master of catching the weight "on the bounce" which allowed him to break a number of records -- and I bet that barbell was a heck of a lot of fun to lift with.

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The 1-Leg Squat

Sig Klein Demonstrates The 1-Leg Squat

The 1-leg squat has long been a popular exercise with the old-time physical culturists -- Sig Klein recommended it as one of the top leg developing exercises. Here's a look at Sig Klein demonstrating the 1-leg squat while holidng a classic globe barbell.

To become proficient at this exercise, you will need to actually practice it although it may actually be slightly "easier" to perform it while holding a barbell since it counterbalances the rest of your bodyweight.

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Anton Matysek

Anton Matysek

Anton Matysek is well-known for his Muscle Control skills but he was no slouch when it came to lifting heavy barbells and other weights. He won the "America's Strongest Man" contest put on in 1922 by Bernarr MacFadden. And here's a good reason why: This classic Milo Globe "Show" barbell that Matysek is holding is 7-1/2 feet long with 16 inch diameter globes, a 3 inch thick handle, and the entire affair weighs in at 231 pounds.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Matysek placed the bell on the floor, raised it to his shoulders, jerked it to arms length, lowered it behind his neck, jerked it overhead again and the set it down on the floor. -- An incredible display of grip and forearm strength.

Several of the athletes who witnessed this feat could not even lift this barbell off the ground.

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Strongman Equipment

Strongman Equipment
You've got to hand it to the oldtime strongmen, they didn't mess around when it came to quality equipment. How strong do you think you could get if you were training with the globe barbells, globe dumbbells, blockweights etc, in the above picture?

If you want to get strong and I mean STRONG you have to have good training equipment and that's just how it is.

It all begins with a quality barbell, good plates and a solid pair of collars. If you have nothing else, you must have at least that much. From there, add other equipment as needed.

Other equipment that will help you tremendously includes a solid bench, dumbbells, a power rack, a Gerard Trap Bar, chest expanders, Thick Bars, Hand Grippers and anything else that you will find on our Strongman Equipment Page.

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Henry "Milo" Steinborn

Henry "Milo" Steinborn

Henry "Milo" Steinborn was a German strongman and wrestler who came the the U.S. in 1921 and immediately caused a big splash in the world of physical training. At a bodyweight of 210 pounds, he could snatch 220 pounds with one hand, military press 265 pounds and clean and jerk 347-1/2. He was most well-known for introducing hard and heavy squatting to this side of the world.

Milo could tip a barbell loaded to 550 pounds up an onto his back unassisted and then perform five deep reps with it. -- a feat yet to be duplicated.

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